Photo courtesy Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi
Provincial government says major administrative affairs that had been withdrawn from local administration have now been returned to it
The Jamaat-e-Islami ended its nearly month-long sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly on Thursday after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government agreed to its demands to amend the Sindh Local Government Amendment Act 2022 and return control of major administrative affairs to the local administration.
“Those health and education sectors which were withdrawn from the control of local government are returned back,” Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah announced after a meeting with leaders of the JI at the sit-in venue. Following his announcement, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman called off the sit-in and urged all his supporters to return home.
“The Karachi mayor would be the chairman of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board,” Shah said, summarizing the salient points of the agreement between the PPP and JI. “The Provincial Finance Commission would be set up within a month of the local government elections. Similarly, the city administration would have its due share in motor vehicle tax,” he added.
He said the Solid Waste Management Board would also be under the control of the local administration, and all educational institutions that had been within the purview of the Karachi local administration prior to the passage of the controversial laws would be returned to it.
The provincial government would issue notifications within a week or two to clarify all the points agreed between the JI and the PPP, he added.